Mounting for sewing machine power units



June 30, 1953 A. M. SCHWEDA MOUNTING FOR SEWING MACHINE POWER UNITS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed May '7, 1948 I INVENTOR. 2 ALBERT M. SCHWEDA ATTORNEY J1me 1953 A. M. SCHWEDA MOUNTING FOR SEWING MACHINE POWER uurrs Original Filed May 7, 1948 2 Sheets-She et 2 llmlllll lhl.

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Y E N R m T A Patented June 30, 1953' UNITED- PATENT OFFICE FOR SEVSZING'LMACHINE BQWER UNITS,

Albert M; Schweda-, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Uniim Special- Machine Company, Chicago, 111., a corpcrationiofilllinois Original; application. May 73.1948; Serial No. 2&605'. Divided and this application. October" I", 1949}. SeriaIINbI. 119,048 Y This invention relates to means for support ing a motor and clutch unit for sewing-machines and the like from the-undersideofa table whichcarries the machine to be driven; The present application is a division of" my pendingappl'ica ti'on', Serial No. ,605; file'd'lVlay '7, I948.

It is a common practice to" mount a sewing machine on thetop'ofa tableand provide an individual power unit for driving the same: The" power unit is usually suspended'fromthe: under surface of the table and comprises an electric motor" and a' clutch adapted to be engaged and disengaged under control orafoot' treadle orthe like. A belt, now usuallyof the V-typ'e,, is: used to connect the driven pulley'tofi'the power unit with the pulley of the sewing. machine: Such belts require tighteningfrom time to time and o'ccasionallythey'mustbereplacedl.

A primary'obj'ect of the present invention has been to provide means for quickly and readily adjusting the position of the driven'pnlley'of a power unit; of the character indicated; for'beit' tightening purposes and the like. This means, in accordance: witlr the invention, is such that the tension on the belt may be increased or reduced: by; the: simple depressing: of a knob and the manual. shifting of}. the. unitto the position desired. Upon release of the button the unit is retained in the position to which it has been shifted. Replacement ofiihebelt' is greatly facilitated by the provision of this means.

Other objects, features, and advantages of' the invention will be apparent from" the detail'eddescription of an illustrative form of the same which will now'be-given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings; inwhich';

Fig. 1 is an end elevation-a1 view of a power unit embodying the invention, with parts broken away for better illustration of concealed parts;

Fig. 2 is a detail View in section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a detail view in section along the line 3-3 of Fig.1; and

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the upper portion of the unit.

Referring now to the drawings, the illustrative unit comprises a supporting or carrying member 10 having a flat horizontally extending portion ll adapted to be secured by screws or the like to the under surface of a table on which the sewing machine to be driven may be mounted. A main motor housing 12 is adapted to be pivotally and adjustably secured to the supporting member ID. For this purpose the housing I2 is formed with upwardly and rearwardly extendears I'3w' positioned at opposite sides Of the:

member L0 and adaptedato receive' a pivot pin. M

which passes through: an aperture in: a. down.- ward-1y extending portion of the member I0; At the: forward end of thehorizontally extending portion H of the supporting member there is" swivelly mounted a downwardly extending bar" I51 This is'swivelly' mounted on the: bracketby a pin I 6. and is preferably in theuformof acircua lar rack bar. Said-rack bar is slidably receivedrby a block l-T havingialaterally extending trunnion I8 rotatably received by an? upwardly an Lforwardly extending ear i9 integral with the; motor housing 12.. Within the block. I! thereis'mounted'a-spring pressed plunger 2 wha-ving-r a-nrenlarged: head 21 at its upper end, this plunger. being;

urged upwardly by a spring acting against the underside. of theihead 2.1. and against the bot-- tom wall of a; recess 23 formed in the:block.. Atthe lower endof the plunger there: is: secured,

integrally or in any other suitable way, a laterally extending tooth 24: adapted to: cooperate with.

anyone of the: spaces betweenia series of teeth 25 in; that under: surface of. the rack bar. be seen that when. the plunger 20' is depressed, by manual-engagement of the buttonzZ l, the tooth- 2:4" is disengaged fromthe-rack teeth so that the:

block l1 may be shifted: to any selected position along the: bar. I15. Uponrelease of the head: or button 2| the spring. 22: will engage-the. tooth;24' with the rack bar. at the selected position. If it is desired to" replace: the belt (not. shown); which will behereinafter referred to; the; button 2! may be depressed and the. motor housinglift ed; thereby causing the block' IT to slide; freely upward along rack bar I5 until. sufllcient slack;

has been provided to enable removal of the belt from the pulley. The unit may be locked in this position by release of the button 2| until the belt has been replaced. To limit the downward movement of the unit a screw 26, having an enlarged head, may be provided at the lower end of the rack bar l5. The head of this screw will serve to arrest the downward movement of the block I! along the rack bar.

The details of the power unit form no part of the invention to be claimed in this divisional application and, therefore, they need not be described. It is sufficient to say that the unit comprises an electric motor which may suitably be of a three phase four pole type. It may, however, be of any other suitable character. Intimately asso-' ciated with the motor as a part of the unit is a clutch adapted to be engaged and disengaged at will, preferably by a foot treadle connected with It will:

an arm 64 (Fig. 1) as more fully disclosed in said parent application Serial No. 25,605. Upon engagement of the clutch a pulley 68 will be driven and this, it will be understood, is connected by the belt discussed above with a pulley on the sewing machine to be driven.

While an illustrative embodiment of the invention has been described in considerable detail and certain advantages of it have been pointed out,it will be understood that various changes maybe made in the construction and arrangement of the several parts.

What I claim is:

1. A mounting for a sewing machine power unit provided with a motor housing having flanges projecting therefrom at opposite sides of a vertical plane containing the axis of said housing, said mounting comprising a supporting member, means pivotally connecting said member to one of said flanges at one side of said plane, a rack bar swivelly connected with said member at the opposite side of said plane, a block swivelly connected with one of said flanges at said opposite vside of said plane, said block having a passage gtherethrough arranged to receive said rack bar and having sliding engagement therewith, and a manually operable tooth carried by said block and urged yieldably into engagement with said rack bar to retain said block in a selected position in relation to said rack bar, said tooth upon manual operation serving to release said block for sliding movement along said rack bar.

2. A mounting for a sewing machine power unit provided with a motor housing having flanges projecting therefrom at opposite sides of a vertical plane containing the axis'of said housing, said mounting comprising a supporting member, means pivotally connecting said member to one of said flanges at one side of said plane, a rack bar swivelly connected with said member at the opposite side of said plane, a block swivelly-connected with one of said flanges at said opposite side of said plane, said block having a passage therethrough arranged to receivesaid rack bar and having sliding engagement therewith, and a manually operable tooth carried by said block and urged yieldably into engagement with said rack bar to retain said block in a selected position in relation to said rack bar, said tooth upon manual operation serving to release said block for sliding movement along said rack-bar, said rack bar and block carrying cooperating shoulders arranged to limit downward movement'of said block along said rack bar.

3. A. mounting for a sewing machine power unit provided with a motor housing having flanges 4 projecting therefrom at opposite sides of a vertical plane containing the axis of said housing, said mounting comprising a supporting member, means pivotally connecting said member to one of said flanges at one side of said plane, a rack bar swivelly connected with said member at the opposite side of said plane, a block swivelly connected with one of said flanges at said opposite side of said plane, said block having a passage therethrough arranged to receive said rack bar and having sliding engagement therewith, a manually operable tooth carried by said block and urged yieldably into engagement with said rack bar to retain said block in a selected position in relation to said rack bar, said tooth upon manual operation serving to release said block for sliding movement along said rack bar, and detachable means carried by said rack bar adjacent its lower end arranged when attached to said bar to prevent complete disengagement of said block from said rack bar. V y

4. A mounting for a sewing machine power unit provided with a motor housing having a pair of circumferentially spaced projecting parts, said mounting comprising a supporting member, means pivotally connecting one of said projecting parts .to said supporting member, devices for connecting the other of said projecting parts to said supporting member, said devices including a rack bar, a block slidable along said rack bar and pivot elements carried respectively, by said other of said projecting parts and said supporting member, said rack bar having one end pivotally connected with one of said elements and said block being mounted for rocking movement about the axis of the othe'rof said elements, a spring urged tooth carried by said block and normally urged into engagement with said rack bar to lock said rack bar and block in selected positions in relation to each other, and manually operable means for disengaging said tooth' from said rack bar to enable relative sliding movement of said rack bar and block. I I

ALBERT M. SCHWEDA.

References on s in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 684,018 Wellman Oct. 8, 1901 1,246,326 Rushby Nov. 13, 191- 1,269,413 Finnigan June 11, 1918 1,282,198 Davis Oct. 22, 1918 1,898,946 Fitzgerald Feb. 21, 1933 2,041,578 'I'autz May 19, 1936 2,514,461 VOigt July 11, 1950 

